Super Sagan wins stage as Impey stays in yellow

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Peter Sagan has time to sit up as he takes the seventh stage of the Tour de France in Albi.

Story highlights

Peter Sagan wins seventh stage of Tour de France

Slovakian star wins from John Degenkolb and Daniele Bennati

South African Daryl Impey retains yellow jersey

Race hits Pyrenees Saturday

Slovakian Peter Sagan made up for a series of near misses to claim his first stage win on this year's Tour de France in Albi Friday.

He burst clear after 205.5km from Montepellier to win easily from Germany's John Degenkolb (Argos Shimano) and Italian Daniele Bennati (Saxo-Tinkoff).

South African Daryl Impey held on to the race leader's yellow jersey after claiming it the previous day from Orica-GreenEdge teammate Simon Gerrans of Australia.

Sagan, who has already taken a stranglehold on the green points jersey he won for the first time in last year's Tour, has been denied victory on four previous stages, but made no mistake this time after superb work from his Cannondale team.

Sagan now has a lead of over 100 points in the battle for green, but Saturday will see the race for yellow hot up as the peloton hit the Pyrenees for the first time in the eighth stage over 195km from Castres to Ax 3 Domaines.

Impey is expected to cede the jersey as race favorites such as Chris Froome and Alberto Contador make their bid for overall domination in the mountains.